Review of 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (2016) by Kman5473 — 18 Apr 2018

A movie that is over 2 hours, yet feels incomplete and not well-thought-out. When I started watching, I did not realize Michael Bay was director--but was not at all surprised when that information came to light.

Every decision made to show any kind of background story or character development felt so forced, foreign, and obscured because, well, Michael Bay doesn't do emotions that well. John Krasinski did a great job, it's only that the dialogue and direction he was given felt so alienating because it was given by a director that is more emotionally immature than a 13 year old boy.

The action sequences were great, but the pacing just felt off outside of the action sequences. It was hyped-up action, followed immediately by a false calm that just kept revving and revving suspense.

..followed by a false peace, and then the action comes in again, of course. The scenes that are supposed to be the heightened emotional outbursts just don't land. It's only because of Krasinski's acting chops that a few of them actually kind of work, not because of Michael Bay's directing or choice of cinematic depiction.